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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts tends to be an optimistic leader. He downplays injuries and struggles, insisting that early pulls are just precautionary (they almost never are) or that his slumping players will be able to dig themselves out of holes. He sticks by his guys even when fans won't.
That's what makes it all the more jarring when Roberts actually lets on that he's become disenchanted with a player. On Monday, after a Dodgers loss to the Philadelphia Phillies with Emmet Sheehan on the mound, Roberts made his disenchantment very clear.
"It's not the consistency that any of us like or want, Emmet included," he said. "Until there's another alternative, we're going to keep running him out there."
That's about as close as he could get to saying "I want this guy off my roster."
Sheehan pitched 5⅓ innings and gave up six earned runs on eight hits, two of which were home runs, to bring his season ERA to 5.13. He's struggled with his fastball velocity on-and-off throughout the season, and it sat at just 93.8 mph on Monday night.
Emmet Sheehan isn't long for the Dodgers' roster after another blowup start
Even with Shohei Ohtani out of the rotation indefinitely and Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow still working their ways back from injury, the Dodgers still have a full rotation. However, the injuries are testing their depth, and Roberts basically admitted that when acknowledging that Sheehan is LA's best (or only) bet right now.
Landon Knack is back in the majors, but he fell to the bottom of Roberts' trust tree a long time ago and is likely to remain in the bullpen. River Ryan would be the easiest option, but he's still on the Triple-A IL with a hamstring injury, his second stint this season, and the Dodgers have been insistent about rehabbing and developing him slowly after he underwent Tommy John in 2024.
Snell is working his way back from surgery to remove loose bodies and just threw his first rehab outing in Triple-A on July 18, going 1⅓ scoreless with four strikeouts. Clearly, the Dodgers are going to stretch him out slowly, but he figures to be back not long after the trade deadline, at which point Sheehan will almost certainly be on a flight back to Oklahoma City.
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This article was originally published on dodgersway.com as Dave Roberts all but confirmed eventual Emmet Sheehan demotion after Dodgers loss.
